Readings in International Criminal Justice Issues is a compilation of papers presented during the 2007 Annual Conference for the Asian Association of Police Studies as well as numerous other articles related to international concerns in crime fighting. While this text, by implication of its title, notes an international perspective, many of the chapters herein also compare various systemic and/or process issues encountered in various countries with those that are encountered in the United States. Indeed, on underlying focus of this text is to demonstrate how nations such as the United States must increasingly become capable of dealing with multinational pressures that push and pull upon them while, at the same time, dealing with increasingly diverse populations as immigration and technology, both products of rapid globalization, impact the internal populations of these countries. In addition, it should be pointed out the range of topics are very broad in this text; this was with deliberation and intent. It was our desire to ensure that, amidst the practitioner orientation, a theoretical orientation was also provided. This theoretical orientation, while being a subtheme throughout this text, can be seen in a range of diverse chapters that have very unique applications. For instance, Chapter 4, entitled Comparing Swedish and United States Perceptions of Deterrence Theory Variables in the United States, compares cultural views on the effectiveness of deterrence approaches to crime fighting, with some very surprising results. In Chapter 8, entitled Feminist Theory as an Etiological and Treatment-Based Paradigm for Female Suicide Bombers, provides a unique theoretical analysis that provides perspectives on why and how the past spate of female suicide bombers was observed in Iraq a few years ago. In Chapter 14, entitled Social Disorganization or Crime Opportunities? Explaining Criminal Victimization in Seoul, South Korea, an extensive quantitative analysis is used to test social disorganization theory in explaining victimization within the internationally know city of Seoul. These three chapters, as well as others, show how the study of criminological theory is now an international study that has applications to and implications for the entire world. Further, this text includes a very strong dose of practitioner-oriented issues. For instance, Chapter 3, entitled The Use of Cognitive Interview Techniques Among Interviewers and Interviewees of Differing Cultures, provides a detailed analysis of cognitive interviewing techniques and provides specific examples of how this approach can be optimized when used among various cultural groups around the world. On a macro rather than a micro level, consider Chapter 6, entitled Fighting Crime in Taipei: A Study of Public and Private Partnerships, which provides specific examines how police partnerships with different persons and organizations in the community can aid and enhance their crime-fighting ability. Lastly, Chapter 11, entitled The Role of the Thai Police in Juvenile Delinquency Cases, provides a good demonstration of how Thai law enforcement have navigated the difficult process of addressing juvenile offending in a manner that is less punitive than responses to adult crime, while also demonstrating effectiveness of these approaches. Another theme within this text is the desire to include an emphasis on systemic systems and issues when fighting crime. In Chapter 6, entitled Effective Measures Against Juvenile Delinquency: Comparing Procedures and Programs of the U.S. and Japan, this is clearly the intent. Chapter 9, entitled Cultural Diversity due to Immigration and the Influence of Globalization: The United States Criminal Justice System in Transition, shows how the impact of globalization has affected the entire landscape of the criminal justice system in the United States. Next, Chapter 9, entitled Use of Geographic Information Systems in Counter-Terrorism, provides a detailed discussion of how GIS can aid nations in fighting terrorists around the world. These three chapters all provide systemic pieces that also, in the process, provide comparisons between approaches in the United States and those in other nations around the world. Lastly, some chapters provide analyses of very specialized topics, some that affect the entire worldwide community and others that address issues that are problematic for a certain segment of the world but yet, at the same time, hold potential suggestions as to what other areas of the world might do when faced with similar circumstances of criminal offending. Chapter 2, titled The New Antecedent to Transnational Organized Crime: An Examination of Motor Vehicle Theft Offenders and Locations Targeted, documents and analyzes data that highlights the demand driven by international markets with eager buyers who are willing to pay top dollar for luxury vehicles and other high-ticket automobiles. This articles shows how crimes that might seem to be local in nature are, in actuality, and example of when local becomes global. Chapter 10, entitled The Role of NGO’s in the Prevention of Human Trafficking: An Emphasis on Victim-Centered Approaches in East Asia, focuses on an issue that has drawn recent worldwide attention; human trafficking. However, this piece shows how various non-governmental organizations (NGO’s) have implemented services for victims that have improved the way these persons are treated within the systemic response system. There is certainly grist to mill for the United States in this chapter that highlights a victim-centered perspective on the issue. Lastly, Chapter 13, titled Factors in Hong Kong Airport Customs Stop and Search Decisions, provides detailed attention to problems with high-traffic jurisdictions that, in the process of maintaining security, struggle with also maintaining a democratic response. Our last two chapters, both stand in almost stand in opposite emphasis from one another. Chapter 1, entitled Asian American Populations and Police Relations in Mid-Sized Communities of the Southern Region of the United States, addresses an issue related to Asian immigration into the United States and the need for police to develop effective community relations amidst these immigration trends. Conversely, Chapter 12, entitled Serial Rapists/Murderers in Russia and Australia: A Cross-Cultural Comparison, makes a unique comparison between two distinctly different countries, focusing on a specific offender typology. This is truly a unique piece considering the offender-type of focus within the international literature. These two chapters do well in falling between the subthemes of this text but yet, do not, by themselves, truly fit within any single one of these subthemes. In conclusion, this text includes chapters that cover topics and issues that concern the entire international community. Likewise, there is a genuine diversity of topics that are included, as befitting a multinational text on criminal justice issues. Though these topics are diverse, they tend to coalesce around subthemes that are often identified as areas of common emphasis among scholars who study comparative forms of criminal justice and/or criminology. It is because of this that we believe that professors and instructors of criminal justice and other related disciplines will find this text to be both interesting and satisfactory in presenting a wide brush examination of multinational criminal justice issues within their classroom.
There are no reviews yet.